1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to thermocouple probes and more particularly to a thermocouple probe adapted for measuring the temperatures of surfaces particularly cooking grills.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the food service industry and in particular in fast food restaurants, large surface area grills are used for preparing many types of foods. It has been determined that the grill temperature is very critical in the proper preparation of the different type foods; therefore, quality control requirements have been placed on the proper maintenance of grill surface temperatures. Thus, there was a need for a device that could be used to quickly and accurately determine the surface temperature of the grills.
Thermocouple probes have been used for measuring surface temperatures in sophisticated process devices where clean, smooth surfaces are available. However, developing a probe for a cooking grill presented certain unique problems. The probe had to be extremely portable and of such a design that it could be readily moved from one place to another on the grill and from one grill to the next. The device had to be such that it could be used by unskilled workers. Fast reading was required so that excessive time was not consumed in periodically checking the grill temperature. Since the measurements were to be made over a hot grill where fat could be splattering, the probe had to be designed to be lifted with a gloved hand. Due to the extreme heat over the grill, the probe had to be self-supporting so that the user could remove his hand while the reading was being taken. Most cooking grills have somewhat irregular surfaces due the presence of thin layers of residual food making good contact with the surface difficult and resulting in erroneous readings. Another difficulty that had to be contended with was the circulation of air caused by the close proximity of exhaust fans. The circulating air would quickly introduce errors into the temperature reading.